[leon]

Think of it this way - the 1G and 2G were quite similar, so why not 3G and 4G? Toyota does this carryover thing all the time and their 4-year model lifespan is actually 8-year with a facelift in the middle, and nobody complains

My fondness for the new iPod shall be inversely proportional to its thickness - the thought of a very thin slab of white plastic (i.e. no metal bottom) is getting me quite excited

 

[vranswer]

I really think that's the key. I'm not an engineer, but logic suggests the slim form factor may be handcuffing Apple's ability to increase battery life. I'm going to revise my statement above by saying the 4G battery will improve, but not by that much...say, clocking in at 12 hours now instead of 8. Apple is either unable or unwilling to get up to the competition's 16-20 hour range because they're ABSOLUTELY unwilling to give up what's got them there - the slim, trim, elegant personal statement player. You dance with the one's that brung ya. I love the Ipod because it combines that with some substantial audiophile capabilities IMO (30mW/channel, line-out,etc.).

Having said all that, it still pisses me off when I fire up my Mini, go to cut the grass with a head full of nice tunes, finish the hour-and-a-half job and pop open an adult beverage, only to look down and find the Mini is 3/4 the way drained! I gotta go plug it in for a while before using again. Yeah, with Apple's new lossless format I only get about three hours of airtime. I'll still get the new Ipod, 'cause the Mini's up against a brick wall in terms of storage capacity. But I've got a new Karma coming to fill in the gaps

 

[dura]

Damn, if that thing is compact, more scratchfree and has a 15+ hrs batterylife, it would be about perfect, I might have to rethink my resolution of buying the Sony NW-HD1. (again, first I waited for half a year for Hi-MD, i'll end up being rich and without music).
But if Vranswer is right, it'll still be the Sony for me; I can live with ATRAC, but I don't want to reload almost daily.
Unless the battery is replacable, like a digicam; then I'll just buy two batteries.

 

[enzoferrari650]

Lol what a rip off in my opinion. The only problem wrong with the 3g ipod IMO is the battery life. And if they only get the 4g to have around 15 hours, why not just get a replacement battery for the 3g with extra life..... for something around 50 dollars that doesnt sound too bad to me. I'd rather do that than buy a brand new one just to get more hours out of it.

 

[stark23x]

I don't care about buttons, scroll wheels, click this, battery life, none of it. I just want the biggest hard drive I can get.

 

[myself, aka me]

How the heck can you tell if it's a rip off without even seeing a feature set? Just from one photo?

I'd like it to have 15 hours of battery life but I don't think it's critical.. my ipod just nestles in next to my computer every day anyway. If it got 12 real (not specified) hours that would probably do too.

 

[vranswer]

IMO the "click wheel" (a la Ipod Mini) is clearly better than the current 3G wheel + 4 buttons rig, which is what the 4G employs if the "Newsweek" photo above is legit. You can play/pause by simply feeling for "6 O'Clock" on the wheel - no look. Helps when your wife is trying to yell something to you from the back of the motorcycle while riding down the highway. And I'm in the process of returning my 2nd 3G 15GB Ipod because it, too skips when playing Apple Lossless files. Often skips in the same spot in songs as the 1st one I bought, sometimes more frequently. And no, it's not a corrupt file because the same track uploaded from the same Itunes on the same computer plays just fine on my Ipod Mini.

 

[bahamaman]

According to www.thinksecret.com, the 4G iPod will be $100 cheaper ($399 for 40GB and $299 for 20GB) and will have a 12 hour battery life. Check it out.

As for me, my little 10GB 3G is still meeting my needs quite satisfactorily.

 

[leon]

12-hour is a good improvement to have though - if I were still in college that'd mean I can last a whole day (whereas I couldn't on the 3G). Once you get a 20-30-hour battery life like on the WM-HD1 you find other things to complain about

I always came back to the iPod+iTunes combo because they possess this incredible simplicity. You can try to dispute that with specs and feature lists but that's not the whole picture. If I wanted to fiddle with hardware (and I get this urge periodically) I'd get a Sony, and if I wanted to concentrate on music, the iPod lets me do that more than any other player.

 

[grinch]

the new model certainly looks cool to me. i have been waiting to upgrade, and looks like i will continue to until the 60gb model rears its sexy head.

 

[vranswer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by leon 12-hour is a good improvement to have though - if I were still in college that'd mean I can last a whole day (whereas I couldn't on the 3G). Once you get a 20-30-hour battery life like on the WM-HD1 you find other things to complain about

YMMV, but neither my "8-hour" Ipod nor Ipod Mini makes it anywhere near that long. As posted above, for my usage (ALAC, low volume 'cause I use line-out and an amp, NO backlight, but I do fuss around a bit changing track playback)...I only get probably just a little better than three hours of life to a charge. So let's say it's actually around four (allowing for my PO'd perception). If my math is right that's 50% of spec. Applied to a new spec of 12, I'll be looking at around six hours of play time per charge. That's better, and probably allows be to go the entire day without needing a recharge - something I'm unable to do now with significant usage. I'd like more but it's enough to make me a buyer for the other reasons you stated.

 

[blessingx]

The leaked article (Newsweek via MSNBC, since taken down) was summarized over at Slashdot as:

Click Wheel
12-hour playtime
Multiple on-the-go Playlists
Delete songs from OTG Playlists
Audiobook tempo adjustment
No more 15 gig model
$100 Cheaper

OTG playlists features are also a plus, and for us Audible subscribers (one of the bigger ignored features of the iPod, along with PDA stuff) the audiobook adjustment will be interesting to work with.

The print edition came out today. The web version may go back up here (currently down).

 

[lindrone]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vranswer YMMV, but neither my "8-hour" Ipod nor Ipod Mini makes it anywhere near that long. As posted above, for my usage (ALAC, low volume 'cause I use line-out and an amp, NO backlight, but I do fuss around a bit changing track playback)...I only get probably just a little better than three hours of life to a charge.

Hmm... in a similar set-up, with 5 second backlight whenever I use the button, and some good amount of track changes... it doesn't matter if you use line-out or headphone out. I use headphone out mostly. Also nothing but ALAC as well...

I get about 5~6 hours of playback time. Perhaps it's time to consider replacing the battery in your iPod?

Either way, I'll be ordering the new iPod first thing tomorrow

 

[PodMan]

The 12hr figure is done with 128kbps AAC files. 600-1100kbps ALAC files will of course get no where near close to that figure.

They probably used a better battery like the (850mAh) one found here and an updated processor/firmware to reach the 50% increase.

on a side note, that site also sells a 2000mAh battery for the 1G/2G iPods. has anyone tried it? maybe you can get 16-20+ hours off a 1G/2G iPod. no ALAC support though but still roughly the same user interface and AAC support.

 

[shard]

I so not see why a colour screen is needed. Its an MP3 player, all it needs to do is display nice and clear text.

An optical out will be great. iPod to external DAC will be a killer.

Speaking of which, are there any MP3 players out there with optical outs other than the iRiver H120?